European Investment Bank round table discussion

European Investment Bank round table discussion

The European Investment Bank, based in Luxembourg, held a meeting with ERA late last week as a means of updating the association on work to date with member airlines and the potential for future investment and lending products following the recent successful applications by two ERA members.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) invited ERA to attend its offices in Luxembourg to discuss the prospect of identifying additional members who may be eligible to access the EIB aircraft purchase lending facility that KLM Cityhopper and Air Nostrum have benefitted from over the past two years.

The meeting, which was attended by the Head of Aviation, Maritime and Innovative Transport, Stephen O’Driscoll, Chief Economist José Doramas Jorge-Calderon and other senior members of the EIB aviation, maritime and innovative transport team, provided the Bank with an opportunity to discuss the potential of more lending using the outstanding funds available from the original envelope as well as the possibility of other products which, though support of the Single European Sky could benefit ERA members.

Members will recall that ERA lobbied the EIB as well as EU Finance Ministers and Treasury in favour of a lending facility for airlines seeking to purchase new aircraft that were demonstrably more environmentally friendly, or that served a specific EU socio-economic purpose such as simulating local economies through tourism for example, where there was little or no alternative connectivity.

The meeting proved to be extremely useful and our intention is to invite the EIB to the next proposed Chief Financial Officers Group Meeting in Q1 2019 to discuss the scope of future lending to ERA members.